Wall cleaner



April 15, 1941-. o. STEVASON 2,238,757

WALL CLEANER Filed April 24, 1939 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 fil fxvrox? OeV/LLE SrsmsoM kwt mm April 15, 1941. o. STEVASON WALL CLEANER Filed April 24, 1939 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 LHU 4 ||||||||||l T IHHHH 1 .ZWEA/TOP ORV/ALE 572514450,

flTTOP/VEXS Patented Apr. 15, 1941 WALL CLEANER Orville Stevason, Indianapolis, Ind., assignor of one-half to Wendell G. Newsom, Indianapolis,

Application April 24, 1939, Serial No. 269,583 Claims. (Cl. -98

This invention relates to means for cleaning ceilings and walls and has for a primary object the provision of a structure whereby the cleaning of the walls, whether painted or papered. may be accomplished without the use of a liquid and in such manner that no streaks or stripes will be left following the application of the device.

A further primary object of the invention is to provide an extremely simple and relatively light weight structure which may be used by a single operator by simply passing the device over the wall or ceilingtaking one swath after another until the entire wall is traversed.

A further important object of the invention is to provide a particular wall contacting wiper in combination with other elements arranged to clean the contacting member following each contact with the wall so that a clean surface is always presented on that member when brought into contact with the Wall.

Other important objects and advantages of the invention, such as the unique association of the various elements as set forth in the appended claims, will become apparent to those versedin the art in the following description of one form of the invention as illustrated by the accompanying drawings, in which Fig. 1 is a view in perspective of a structure embodying the invention in position to clean cellings;

Fig. 2, a detail on an enlarged scale in side elevation of a cleaning head as applied to a vertical wall;

Fig. 3, a reverse side elevation on an enlarged scale of the cleaner head positioned to clean a ceiling;

Fig. 4, a top plan view of the cleaner head; and

Fig. 5, a detail in section on the line 5-5 in Fig.4.

Like characters of reference indicate like parts throughout the several views in the drawings.

I form a suitable stand for supporting'the cleaning head. While this stand may take any number of suitable forms, the particular form herein shown is quite adaptable to various positions required of the head during the cleaning process. In this form, a base is formed by crossing two bars l0 and II in the general shape of a T to have the end of each bar carry a caster l2. A standard I3 is positioned upon the bars llland I l at their intersection and is held in vertical position by any suitable means such as by the braces l4 extending from the standard l3 diagonally outwardly to'each of the arms of the bars in and ll A suitable guiding handle 15 is secured to the standard l3 by one end and is braced again-st vertical displacement by a brace l6. On the upper end of the standard I3 is removably and adjustably supported a pole l1, herein shown as having a plurality of notches I8 on its underside to rest on atransversely positioned pin [9 carried at the upper end of the standard 13. To prevent lateral swinging of the pole ll, a pair of guide members and 2| are secured to the standard l3 in spaced apart parallel relation to have the pole l1 rockably carried therebetween as it may pivot over the pin l9. Normally a spring 22 is secured to the pole H by one end and to any one of a number of hooks 23 carried in spaced apart relation along the standard l3 or along the handle l5.

On the upper end of the pole I! is a head 24 which carries a pair of arms 25 and 26 extending outwardly therefrom in spaced apart relation. These two arms 25, 26 rockably carry a carriage by an axle 21 extending by trunnions through side plates 28 and 29. The arms 25 and 26 have their outer ends slotted to permit entrance thereacross and within those slots of the end trunnions of the shaft 21, the central portion of the shaft having a diameter exceeding that of each of the trunnions.

The side plates 28 and 29 are tied together against spreading apart and maintainedin running abutment with the ends of the enlarged portion of the shaft 21 by means of a pair of through bolts 30 and 3|.

A driving motor 32 is mounted on the head 24, preferably on the underside thereof, to have a belt pulley 33 spaced outwardly therefrom and in alignment with a belt pulley 34 secured on the end of the trunnion extending from the shaft 21 beyond the arm 25. A driving belt 35 passes around these pulleys, and by means of this belt the shaft 21 is maintained in position within the slot of the arm 25. The trunnion on the other end of the shaft 21 is maintained in the slot of the arm 26 by means of a side plate 36 which has a bore through which the trunnion extends at one end, and the other end of which plate is Since the carriage is free to rock on the end trunnions of the shaft 2'! between the arms 25" and 26, I provide wall contacting rollers 42 and 43 to extend between the side plates at their upper outer corners, the diameters of these rollers being sufficiently large as to space the edges of the plates from the wall or ceiling being .cleaned by means of these rollers which are maintained in rolling contact with the wall or ceiling; These bearing rollers 42, 43 are entirely removed from the path of the blades 38.

In the path of the blades 38 are one or more transversely positioned cleaning rollers, herein shown as four in number. Referring to Fig. 5, assuming that the shaft 21 is turning in a counter-clockwise direction, one of these transverse cleaning rollers 44 is positioned below the top edges of the side plates 28 and 29 to be supported by those plates by end trunnions so that the roller is free to rotate. It will be noted, Fig. 5, that after the projecting end of the wiper blade 38 has made its wiping contact with the ceiling or wall, it is immediately thereafter forcibly struck against the roller 44 on that side of the blade which would carry the dirt picked up from the wall. The roller 44 is positioned outwardly radially from the center of the shaft 21 a sufficient distance that will cause the blade 38 in each instance to strike the roller 44 and then-be pulled downwardly along the inner side thereof without any tendency to wrap over around the outside of the roller. After the blade 38 has passed the roller 44, a second cleaner roller 45 is located rotatably between the plates 28 and 29 in the path of the blade so that the same blade strikes this second roller on that side which has contacted the wall. Within a short distance thereafter is a third roller 46 likewise rotatably carried between the end plates 28 and 2.9, this roller 46 being more closely spaced to the roller 45 than the roller 45 is to the roller 44. This variation in spacing sets up a diiference in cleaning action as the blade 38 is slapped thereacross. Then a fourth cleaner roller 4'! is carried between the side plates 28, 29 spaced around from and above the roller 46 but at a distance below the top edges of the plates greater than the distance therebelow of the roller 44. This permits the blade 38 to straighten out radially after it leaves the roller 41 before it contacts the wall or ceiling as the case may be. As indicated in Fig. 3, the blade will strike the ceiling 48 by its side to wipe thereacross to give an appreciable area of contact by the blade with the ceiling.

In using the device, the stand is pulled to and fro across the room by the handle l to guide the carriage and maintain the spacing and bearing rollers 42 and 43 against the ceiling which rollers being of appreciable length, do not streak or otherwise mar the surface of the ceiling. The spring 22 rocks the outer lower end of the pole l1 downwardly to maintain the carriage compressibly against the ceiling without any effort upon the part of the operator. The motor 32 is controlled by means of a switch 49 in a cable 50 which leads from any suitable source of current and connects with the motor 32.

Where the device is to be employed on side walls, the carriage is rocked between the side arms 25 and 26 to arrange the bearing rollers 42 and 43 in vertical alignment against the wall, Fig. 2, and the carriage is then guided vertically up and down the wall in a series of passages thereover. In this use, the pole I1 is detached from its carrying standard and the operator carries it bodily.

While I have herein shown and described my invention in the one best form as now known to me, it is obvious that structural variations may be employed without departing from the spirit of the invention, such for example as the particular formation of the carriage, the mounting of the wiping blades on the carrier shaft, the specific manner of driving the wiper blade shaft, and I, therefore, do not desire to be limited to that precise form beyond the limitations as may be imposed by the following claims.

I claim:

1. In a wall cleaner, a carriage, a shaft carried by the carriage, a plurality of elastic Wiping blades carried by said shaft to have ends project beyond an edge of the carriage, wall bearing means for fixing the position of said carriage on the wall when the cleaner is in use and spacing said shaft from the wall to determine the length of contact by said blades with the wall upon rotation of said shaft, and a plurality of bars in the path of said blades for knocking dirt free from the blades, and means for rotating said shaft.

2. In a wall cleaner, a carriage, a shaft carried by the carriage, a plurality of elastic Wiping blades carried by said shaft to have ends project beyond an edge of the carriage, wall bearing means for fixing the position of said carriage on the wall when the cleaner is in use andspacing said shaft from the wall to determine the length of contact by said blades with the wall upon r0- tation of said shaft, and a plurality of bars in the path of said blades for knocking dirt free from the blades, and means for rotating said shaft, each of said blades being formed of highly elastic sponge rubber having small open cellular pockets closely spaced over the faces thereof.

3. In a wall cleaner, a carriage, a shaft carried by the carriage, a plurality of elastic Wiping blades carried by said shaft to have ends project beyond an edge of the carriage, wall bearing means for .fixing the position of said carriage on the Wall when the cleaner is in use and spacing said shaft from the wall to determine the length of contact by said blades with the wall upon rotation of said shaft, and a plurality of bars in the path of said blades for knocking dirt free from the blades, and means for rotating said shaft, said bars consisting .of rotatable rollers spaced circumferentially apart, the last of said rollers being spaced inwardly a suificient distance from the carriagewall edges to permit the blades to straighten out radially :beforestriking the wall.

4. In a wall cleaner, a carriage, a shaft carried by the carriage, a plurality of elastic wiping blades carried by said shaft to have ends project beyond an edge of the carriage, wall bearing means for fixing the position of said carriage on the wall whenthe cleaner is in use and spacing said shaft from the Wall 'to determine the length of contact by saidblades with the wall upon 'rotatlon of said shaft, and a plurality of bars in the elastic wiping blade fixed to the shaft and having a relatively finely pitted planar surface, the outer edge of the blade extending radially beyond the corresponding: outer edges of said plates, means for holding said plates in positions fixed one in respect to the'fother, a bar carried by and between said plates to be in the path of said blade whereby the bar will he slapped by an outer end portion of the blade and carried on therepast around toward said plate edges, and means for driving said shaft through said extending end.

ORVILLE STEVASON. 

